ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Sunday described as "highly irresponsible" the remarks of U.S. State Department Coordinator for Counter-Terrorism Henry Crumpton that Pakistan was not doing enough to curb terrorism.

Mr. Crumpton, currently on a trip to Afghanistan, was quoted in the media as saying that most of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda leadership had found a safe haven in Pakistan's tribal belt that borders Afghanistan.

He has been quoted as saying that while the United States did not know where Osama bin Laden was hiding, the Al-Qaeda leader was probably on the Pakistan side of the Afghan border.

The Director-General of Pakistan's Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) Shaukat Sultan said the charges were all the more surprising as the U.S. official during his visit to Pakistan last week had not made any such comment.

He said such allegations were baseless and beyond the facts. Maj. Gen. Sultan said the allegation that the Al-Qaeda leadership was hiding in Pakistan and that the Pakistan Government was well aware of it was incorrect and unjustified.

Pakistan Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Sherpao said if Pakistan had any information about Osama, the Al-Qaeda or the Taliban, it would have definitely taken action. The Minister said Mr. Crumpton during his visit had only appreciated the role of Pakistan in the war against terrorism.

War of words

For several months now Pakistan and Afghanistan have been engaged in a verbal war on efforts in each other's territory to contain the Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. The war of words intensified after the visit of U.S. President George W. Bush to Pakistan in the first week of March.

Within days after Mr. Bush's visit, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf lashed out at the Hamid Karzai Government for what he termed "a campaign to defame Pakistan."

Gen. Musharraf was angry with Mr. Karzai for the leakage of "inspired" reports to the press on the reported presence of Al-Qaeda and Taliban figures on Pakistan soil.

Pakistan maintains that having deployed over 80,000 troops along the Afghan border and lost over 600 of its soldiers in the guerrilla war with the Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, it has done much more than the U.S., its allies and the Afghan forces put together.

However, Islamabad has not been able to convince the world that it has effectively dealt with the challenge posed by the Al-Qaeda and the Taliban in the tribal belt.

In a recent interview Gen. Musharraf admitted that `Talibanisation' was spreading from the tribal to the settled areas of the Frontier.

Reports from the tribal belt on Saturday said militants distributed leaflets in the name of Osama bin Laden in two towns in North Waziristan, calling for the assassination of President Musharraf for his alleged subservience to American interests.

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